TheKingSloth

Critical Lense of Voluntourism

Question : Is humanitarian aid something that should be bought and sold on the market? What are the roles of Government and the Private Sector in combating humanitarian crisis?

Introduction

Western consumers, often students, engage in activity known as "voluntourism" or relief tourism. This is industry generates billions of dollars annually.^[1] Companies like GO ECO, Global Citizen Year and WWOOF have volunteers pay to have an opportunity to visit countries in need of aid and help the community through short term development projects^[2]. These projects can last from a few days to several months, ranging from housing projects to community economic development efforts. Though this seems to be righteous in nature, there are serious ethical concerns raised when companies from countries in the global north profit from disaster relief and humanitarian aid projects in the developing world.

Issues in Voluntourism

Some of the reasons why this industry is controversial:

High volunteering fees without transparency.
Untrained foreigner involvement in serious projects like children welfare.
Volunteers taking aways jobs of locals.
Volunteer project scam. See Cambodian Orphanage Scam ^[3]
Short term volunteering periods.

Voluntourism in the media

Madonna released the documentary "I am Because We Are" in 2008. In the documentary Madonna claimed that over a million children were "living in the streets, in abandoned buildings, and are being abducted, kidnapped, and raped."^[4] These claims were later proven to not be substantiated, leaving negative impressions and damaging the reputation of the country it purported to serve.

Who really is investing in Humanitarian Aid

A growing section of humanitarian aid comes from private firms rather than charities^[5] After the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, $6 Billion dollars in relief aid was sent to Haiti. From 2010-2012, Of $500m or so in aid contracts from the American agency for international development (USAID), roughly 70% passed through the hands of private companies. In 2016, for profit businesses had shown in increase in spending of 60% from 2008^[6]

Louis Berger Group, one of USAID’s largest contractors, has been found guilty of several cases of bribery and fraud. Its former boss, Derish Wolff, was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud USAID by faking timesheets, fined $4.5m and sentenced to a year’s home confinement.^[7]

Meanwhile, In August 2019, the United States President, Donald Trump has relases a statement that there will be a reduction in foriegn aid of $4 Billion. ^[8]

Preliminary conclusion

While there is benefit to voluntourism, It is, at best, palliative relief for systemic issues within developing countries, and at worst an exploitative practice that propagates skewed western ideologies and promotes inaccurate and damaging impressions of disenfranchised communities. The profit generation of western companies through voluntourism gives a perverse incentive to keep developing areas in situations where they are dependent on aid. The efforts of voluntourism also seek to provide market based solutions to humanitarian problems, subverting the role of governments in development projects.